Ball-game device.



H. BEHREND.

BALL GAME. DEVICE.

APPLICATIQN FILED JULY 5. 1910. I

Patented Oct. 12-, 1915.

striking UNITED STATES PATENT or ucn.

B E or BERLIN, GERMANY, ASSIGNOR' TO B. BIERBAUM, oE' aLm; GERMANY.

BALL-GAME DEVICE.

To all whom it may concern;

Be it knownthat I, HELENE BEHREND, a subject of the German Emperor, and resident of 13 Reinickendorferstrasse, Berlin, Germany, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Ball-Game Devices, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is a device by means of which a ball can be thrown into the air and again caught. It gives children as well as grown-up persons occasion to strengthen the body in the open air or in the chamber and togive fresh mental power to those using it.

The device for ball-game consists of two legs linked to each other on their lower parts and provided with broad flat faces on their upper ends between which a piece of cloth is stretched. By means of suddenly pulling apart the legs of the device the piece of cloth is stretched and a ball resting upon the piece of cloth is thrown upward. Conversely the ball is securely caught by the device if the legs are at once moved toward each other after the ball has again touched the stretched out piece of cloth.

In order that the legs may be arranged sufficiently far apart to prevent the hands together when said legs are stretched a cross-bar is mounted between said legs, and the legs can be extended beyond their pivotal point and formed into outwardly bent handles.

In the accompanying drawing in which I have illustrated my invention like letters of reference refer to like parts throughout the various views.

Figure 1 shows a side view of such ballgame device Fig. 2 shows a front View of Fig. 1 Fig. 3 shows a perspective View of the device the piece of cloth being stretched. Fig. 4 shows a side view of the lower ends of the legs kept apart by a cross bar, Fig. 5 shows a side view of the lower ends of the legs bent inward and directly linked to each other, Fig. 6 shows a side view of the lower ends of the legs crossed one over the other like scissors.

The legs a have on their lower ends outwardly bent handles 1) and carry on their top ends boards 6 forming flat faces between which a piece of cloth a; is fixed behind cleats (Z. By the fiat faces the ball is se-. curely caught if the legs are at once moved toward each other after the ball which is Specification of Letters Patent.

thrown toward the playing person has touched the stretched out piece of cloth. The legs a are kept'apart by the cross-bar z and they are both -pivotally attached on said bar 2' by pivots 9.

During the game two persons can stand facing each other and can throw the ball toward each other at a given command. It affords greater skill if three or more persons stand in a triangle or polygon toward each other and the ball must be caught from another direction than the one in which the ball is to be thrown.

The particular features of the ball game device can of course vary. For instance the handles 1) can be left off as shown in Fig. 4: where the legs a are kept apart by the crossbar 0. Also the cross-bar z may be left off, if the lower ends 8 of the legs a are bent in- 1 ward and are directly linked to each other by the pivot 2 as shown in Fig. 5. The flat faces e can be of any desirable shape and they can consist of a wire or cane work or the like. The piece of cloth 00 can be replaced by a net. The legs a can on their lower extremities 7) cross one over the other like scissors, as shown in Fig. 6, where the legs a are both pivotally attached by the pivot 7 In order that the device may require during the carrying in a handbag as little space as possible the pivots 9 could be mounted detachably and the cross-bar i could be .folded against one of the legs.

IVhat I claim as new and desire to secure by a United States Letters Patent is 1. A ball game device consisting of two legs pivotally mounted on their lower ends, fiat faces fixed to the upper ends of said legs, and a piece of cloth fixed between said flat faces adapted to be stretched by a sudden moving apart of the legs in order to throw upward a ball resting upon said cloth and to catch and securely hold the same by moving said legs together as soon as a thrown ball drops and engages the stretched piece of cloth.

2. In a ball game device the combination of two legs pivotally mounted on their lower ends, flat faces fixed to the upper ends of said legs, a piece of cloth fixed between said fiat faces and a cross bar pivoted between the lower ends of said legs adapted to prevent a touching of the hands holding the legs at the moving together of the same.

3. In a ball game device the combination Patented Oct. 12, 1915.

Application filed: .TuIy 5, 1910. Serial No. 570,305.

of two legs pivotally mounted on their lower In testimony whereof I have hereunto ends, flat faces fixed to the upper ends of signed my name this 10th day of May 1910 said legs, a piece of cloth fixed between said in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

fiat faces, a cross-bar pivoted between the HELENE BEHREND. 5 lower ends of said legs and the ends of said WVitnesses:

legs extending beyond their pivotal point to V VOLDEHAR HAUPT, form handles. 7 HENRY HASPER.

, Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. C. 

